Buyer beware is always a useful adage, but times are
changing and it is no longer enough.
Sell your home and you will now have to provide potential
purchasers with a report on your pride and joy's provenance and
state of repair.
Work for a company that is up for sale and the IT department is
increasingly expected to provide a similar report,
How your IT can make or break the deal, for potential buyers -
a vendor due diligence report.
We are in the midst of a mergers and acquisitions boom and
vendor due diligence is becoming an important element in attracting
a purchaser. As IT systems are increasingly central to business
organisations, IT due diligence is now just as important as the
traditional examination of balance sheets and market prospects.
For the IT department in a takeover target, vendor due diligence
should be viewed less as an imposition and more as a potential
lifeline.
Being able to adequately document your systems, processes,
software assets, outsourcing commitments, business continuity plans
and even your staff skills profile, proves you are running a tight
ship.
It can convince potential purchasers of the value of you and
your team to a merged operation.
Fail to demonstrate your IT department is up to scratch and it
can either break the deal or invite the purchaser to adopt a
rip-and-replace approach to both systems and staff soon after
completion.
One degree under
The drop in the number of people applying for computer science
degrees at British universities should set alarm bells ringing.
Numbers were down 10.3% for the current academic year - three
times the average fall for all applicants, according to the
universities' clearing service UCAS.
Few IT managers have ever claimed to be totally happy with the
people turned out from university computing departments. For many
years the complaint has gone up about graduates lacking the wider
business skills needed to deliver responsive IT services.
Nevertheless, it is time to be concerned if young people
increasingly believe that our industry no longer offers a well-paid
and interesting career.
IT is at the heart of every business development. It is at the
heart of transforming the public sector, and it is up to all of us
to enthuse the next generation of the workforce that it is the
place to be.